Harbor Freight (HarborFreight.com)

Lousy return policy I bought a hitch ball, but discovered it was the wrong shank size. Unfortunately I lost the receipt and when I took it back to Harbor Freight they would not accept the return, even though I wanted to make another purchase. The hitch was in the original packaging and in perfect condition. It was obvious I purchased it from them because it has Harbor Freight on the package. I realize it was my mistake, but I was not asking for cash, just a credit for what I needed to buy. As I walked out of the store I saw a sign stating “100% Satisfaction”, may be the sign should read “70% Satisfaction”.

Assembled the small 6 ft. x 8 ft. greenhouse. I found the quality to great considering the price of less than $300. The parts fit well, if you make sure your foundation is level and square. I used treated 4 x 4's placed on concrete deck blocks, (set in the ground). I used about 12 tubes of clear cauking to secure the panels. The instructions say three persons are needed to set this thing up. I put together with no help and no problems. If a part does not fit, dont force it, re-read your instructions and try again. This unit uses 160 bolts and nuts which were in the kit. There was exactly 160 of each, no extras! I think this is a good buy, if you want a very small greenhouse.

I buy at Harbor Freight occasionally and am generally happy with the quality vs price compromises. What I am upset about is my discovery that their website reviews may be dishonest. I found this out when I wrote a lengthy review... sent it in... and it never appeared on their site. I emailed customer service and asked why. The reply was that they "randomly" chose reviews to include on their site. I post reviews on over a dozen sites. This is not normal... the only reason I can come up with is that they "cherry pick" reviews. I have done an internet search... and found that it is common knowledge that HF does this... and that their reviews are not to be trusted. Where there is smoke there is usually fire. A company that is dishonest in one area... is probably dishonest in other areas.

I had to drive 75 miles to find a Harbor Freight store. Store employees were helpful and speedy in helping me locate, buy, and load the greenhouse on my trailer. The package it comes in is way too heavy for a single person, so I left it on the trailer and removed parts from the box as needed during assembly. The ridge pole had holes drilled in the wrong locations, and was a couple of inches too long. I cut it off with a hacksaw and redrilled the holes, and it still doesn't line up properly. The roof windows are flimsy and difficult to open and close because they don't align with the holes. More than once after a storm, I've had to walk around my neighborhood to retrieve blown-out panels. Instructions don't tell you how many clips to use to secure the panels. When you're finished, you probably should use every last one. There is no stop on the doors, and if you open them too wide, they'll jump track and that takes about 10 minutes to repair, very annoying. All things considered, I probably should have spent more money and gotten a decent greenhouse. It never pays to cut corners and cheap-out.

I've purchased lots of things from Harbor Freight over the years. I've found that their tools are cheap enough to buy and try, if they break it often means I'm using them enough to need a more "professional" version to invest in. For the most part though, I haven't had many things outright fail without me doing something to them they weren't intended for - and they'll take just about anything on return/exchange if it does fail, so you really can't lose too badly. If you're interested in reviewing their products, I've actually created a website dedicated to it: //www.hfreviews.com It's just getting started out, so if you really love/hate a product feel free to post on it and hopefully we can make it into a useful resource for people looking to make a purchase!

My husband ordered a 4' x 6' greenhouse for me for Christmas. He ordered it in November, 2007. The item was backordered and did not arrive until Jnuary 16, 2008. The item was damaged, The 70 lb. box had been dropped and torn open. The Yellow Transportation delivery person noted on the bill of lading the damage. I call Harbor Freight. Their policy is such that they will not send a replacement until they have the original back, so they scheduled a pick-up of my damaged item. Two weeks passed and nothing. I called back. Oops! The info was accidintly sent to the wrong location. They would reschedule the pick-up. I waited another week and Yellow Transportation just showed up (no scheduling with me) to pick up the item. Luckily I was here. My new item arrived here on Feburary 18, 2008. (Four months after the original order). It was the same box, taped together and sent back. I called customer service. They were willing to repeat the whole process, but I had plants in the basement that were needing to go in the greenhouse so I told customer service I would unpack the greenhouse and try to put it together. Some of the aluminum studs were bent, but I'm hoping, with a little silicon, I can make it work. I got about half-way through the assembly when I realized that a part was missing. The bottom frame for one of the vent windows. I called customer service again, and was informed that it will take ANOTHER 6-8 WEEKS to get the replacement part (from overseas). Wonderful. To add a little topping to the cake, that night I received a bill from Yellow Transportation for $369.32 for the return shipping. I called customer service again and spoke to Delhi, India; California, and South Carolina. The people in South Carolina are the only ones who seem to have any sense, but as of now I am still on a phone trail to try to get the shipping charges removed. Who knows when I will get the part for my greenhouse window. It is 'on order'. My husband is going to try to make a part just so we can seal the opening. I will NEVER order from Harbor Freight again.

We purchased the Harbor Freight 10x12 greenhouse (on sale) and I'm quite pleased with it. For the low price I don’t think it can be beat; the quality of manufacturing was decent. However, it needs some modifications to withstand winds. The manual is horribly unclear, and doesn’t reflect changes to the kit, which adds to the errors and confusion. Lots of good info is available on the Internet from others who’ve figured out how to survive the manual and modify the kit for strength, and I’ve kept a blog of tips and modifications here: https://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/oldmudhouse/6644/ We’ve purchased at our local Harbor Freight store, and I’ve ordered through their toll free line. We’ve been treated courteously and they’ve shipped promptly. I have read that trying to get missing parts for a greenhouse kit is very frustrating (incredible delays.) I’d suggest checking your greenhouse kit for completeness as soon as possible.

I have purchased several items from HF in the last 2 years and they all worked well & much less expensive than other places. I purchased the 6x8 GH in Feb 2006 and it was not too difficult to put together even if the directions leave steps out. We anchored ours with a 2x4 driven into the ground and then nailed our wooden base to that. It has never shook a bit and we have had several high winds that blew my panels away. This year I got tired of chasing them down and screwed them to the aluminum frame (should have done that to start with) and haven't had to chase them down yet. I did not use silicone to chalk them but will if more reenforcement is needed. I was able to put the greenhouse together by myself except for the roof that my DH had to help with.

I love Harbor Freight! We have bought numerous items over the years, mail order and from the store and only had one problem. It was a handtruck which had a bent axle. We returned it to the store and received another one which has moved us 3 times! We just bought a trailer jack for our travel trailer and put up a 6x8 greenhouse. The GH directions were absolutely terrible, bad or wrong schematics and out of sequence directions but common sense and a lot of hard work got us through!

We have the 6x8 greenhouse and love it!! We did mount it on 2x12 (on the edge) for added height on the inside. DH made 4 moveable shelves for the inside. Directions were the pits though. When it is windy you do need to make sure the door is shut or the panels blow out. We did drill a hole in the top edge by the door to put a pin in to make sure the door stays shut. I'd get another in a minute!!

ordered a germination kit with heat mat, got tracking info, came on time, price was worth it, same price as a heat mat alone from others, shipping was minimal in cost.

I ordered the large greenhouse from HF. Directions made no sense, and sequence of directions not right. When I discovered that I was missing some parts, I was told that it would take six weeks to get them! Customer service nasty and no help. We ended up making our own clips to hold panels in. The clips they did provide did not hold panels in well, and in the middle of winter, we had to go out and repair the greenhouse where the side panels had failed. shoddy product, worse customer service.

I also purchased a greenhouse(10'x12') and found it to be of average quality for the price. However, the directions are difficult to follow and several major structural parts were missing. The worst part by far was trying to get the missing parts ordered and sent to me by Harborfreight. Their customer service, in India, has no idea which way is up. In the end, I waited 5 months for parts to show and they never did arrive to date. When I finally spoke w/ custormer service in California they did take care of me.

We recently purchased the small Harbor Freight greenhouse. While the included instructions were not good, we were able to suppliment with some online instructions from someone who had assembled one and it went up easily enough. It seems very sturdy and certainly warms things up! My tomato seedlings have never been happier. When I was working on buying the greenhouse I called the local stores (Dayton and Columbus) and they physically checked to see if they were in stock and gave me the internet sale price.